The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

Speechless ….. !!!!

Now that’s how you do a CGI ............

Thanks to Spielberg who could so well carry it with his amazing technique of motion capturing rather action capturing where he moves the camera along with the protagonist on the screen. Beautifully manifested Tintin couldn’t have received a warmer welcome to the film industry.

I am a big fan of Tintin comics and of course the animated series as well, especially the unrelenting Captain Haddock and who could forget the amazing duos Thompson and Thomson with their clumsy behavior who always managed to giggle me every now and then. Tintin and Snowy however used to be my heroes solving mysteries and defying danger at every step. When I learnt there is going to be a movie and none other than Steven Spielberg is gonna direct it, I was more than elated.

A perfect 3D fest right from the inception of the movie till the end, the movie has taken CGI to the next level with Spielberg’s classic method of action capturing and boy I must say I was amazed as I kept on pointing how beautiful the effects appeared with every scene. Everything seemed so real, right from their countenances to the environment – the beautiful sea, the vast desert and every tiny detail. The story took us to one hell of a ride with Tintin solving the mystery and connecting the dots for us. Captain Haddock had never been portrayed that brilliantly, keeping in mind every tiny details and facial expressions. Snowy appeared ditto as it used to be in the cartoons and equally cute too.

Tintin, superbly portrayed by Jamie Bell, finds a Unicorn ship in the market and buys it only to encounter hell himself in the form of Sakharine (Daniel Craig) who is keen to get the ship for there is something in the ship that interests him. Tintin finds himself in trouble as Sakharine is hell-bent on getting the ship from the hands of the lad. Tintin however smells the foul play and since then takes us on a joy ride connecting the pieces together with the assistance of Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis – A perfect choice for the role …. He has gone so much better ….. Andy Serkis for president !) who has been kidnapped by Sakharine.

The movie gives you a unique experience of 3D and motion capturing which I think is a must watch. Steven knows how to impeccably exploit technology. Go watch this one if you want to witness awesomeness in 3D.

Immortals (2011)

Spellbound !!!

Magnificent....Action has never touched such heights before.

Big fan of Greek mythology while‘Immortals’ was everything that I wanted it to be. A wonderful script, brilliant cast as well as unmatched action.

King Hyperion (Micky Rourke) is in search of Epirus bow to destroy humanity by unleashing the Titans. Gods cannot interpose unless he does so. Till that time the people of Greece witness ‘hell’ as King Hyperion is bent on seeking the legendary weapon to release the Titans at any cost. Theseus, (Henry  Cavill) who has been trained by none other than Zeus himself, is the only hope who has the ability to stop the cruel King before he tramples everyone who stands in his way. Phaedra, (Freida Pinto) who is the real virgin Oracle priestess has the ability to foresee the future, assists Theseus on his quest to stop the mad king. Zeus played by Luke Evans was one of the finest portrayals I have ever seen. The disappointed and the wrathful God filled the air with some class acting. The final scenes stole the show to the otherwise normal action flick. The whole scenario metamorphoses into a bloody gore with a lot of stabbing and lancing followed by heads and limbs falling all over the place. A bloody mess and that was exactly what I paid to see.

I can’t comment on Henry Cavill’s part but Mickey Rourke did an amazing job as a villain and I must say he carried the flick single-handedly doing all sorts of ugly and arrogant things you could only imagine. His self-disfigured blood thirsty army was the most dreaded in the entire Greece and they certainly brought everlasting chaos to the country in the search of the mighty weapon.

The epic clash between the hordes of Hyperion and the Greeks led by Theseus was amazing; however the fight between The Olympians and the Titans totally stole the show. I was literally jumping off my seat with every blow.

Go for this one if you are a blood-thirsty bloke for action. You won’t be disappointed. If you are not an action-buff then save yourself the trouble and watch a chick-flick instead.

Righteous kill (2008)

"Man they are back again for the third time ... The awesome twosome - Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, once again, together, to recreate the magic of HEAT and of Godfather: Part 2 and they are gonna share the screen space as “friends” in this one ... so read the bulletins but the question is, did they succeed?

I’d say not really although they almost managed to touch the same class by the grace of the plot. The story seemed too apparent right from the beginning where Robert De Niro, an NYPD detective, seems to be narrating a series of murder that he committed. The second parallel version manifests Al Pacino, his best mate and a long time partner in the same pursuit, trying to catch the criminal along with De Niro. The killings slowly start to point all fingers towards De Niro, another indication that was leading towards an obvious plot, albeit that wasn’t exactly the case.

Right when one gets really bored of the evident storyline BOOM! comes the climax completing the picture and man, I must say, I was totally dazed when that happened even though the rest of the movie failed to enthuse me much. Russell Gewirtz definitely knows how to write a climax (Remember how beautifully he wrote it for The Inside Man!) and he still manages to rake in all the kudos with his plot.

I must add this about the two great actors here - so less did they share the screen space in the earlier flicks and yet it used to thrill us to watch them come face to face. All of that, spoiled in a jiffy yet I think the flick could have been much more of a success had they energized it a little bit. The aged cops made everything really boring in this one - even the chase eventually lasted a second or two without any theatrics. I must say, if anyone else could have done it then why waste such great talents as Al Pacino and De Niro?

Carla is at her sensuous best in the flick. Donnie Wahlberg and John Leguizamo did their bit, chasing the wrong tail, well but that’s where they were steered as the script demanded. 50 Cents’ cameo was not needed at all.

I’d recommend it for those who love suspense coz boy they would be thrilled with the climax although the movie is a typical thriller which generally ends with something like that so even they would cuss me for the suggestion.